Stuck Here With You
by XForgottenMemoryX
Summary: Leaving your home and moving half way across the country to a new school can be tough, especially if you're Sakura Haruno who got kicked out of her old school and forced to move in with her mother. How will she survive in a place full of rich snobs, pedophile janitors, hyperactive blondes and socially awkward icecube Uchihas? T for language
1. New Beginnings

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters**

**Stuck Here With You**

**1. New Beginnings**

I collapsed onto the table and groaned. "Dad, please don't make me move! I have friends here! I have a life! Are you going to take my life away from me?" I whined. But my efforts were useless. The odds were against me.

The man across from me sighed and set his cup of coffee on the polished wooden table. "Sakura, this is not up to me. Maybe you should have thought about the consequences before you decided to get yourself kicked out of school." I could have gone to another school in the area. Moving in with my mother half way across the country was a bit extreme.

More groans escaped from my mouth, though my awkward position half standing half laying on the table didn't change, even though the side was jabbing into my stomach. "It wasn't my fault though! It was self defense! Jayson went after me. And I swear to god that the staircase wasn't there a few days ago. Besides, you were the one who signed me up for Karate so I could stand my ground," I mumbled into the table, half my face squished against the worn slab.

My father rubbed his temples. "Why don't you look at the bright side of this? It's a change of scenery and you get to spend time with your mother. Perhaps make a few new friends while you're at it. I heard the High School down there was really nice. Quite big too." Damn optimist. There was no chance in trying to change his mind, though I still tried.

"But I don't want to live with mom. I like our little nothing town. I grew up with everybody. Now you're shipping me off to some other school with hundreds of kids I don't know? I like my little hundred-and-three class. Where the hell is Konoha anyway?"

Apparently after my parents got divorced, my mother moved to someplace in east bumfuck that no one's ever heard of before, though I heard it's got quite a large population. Around five times the size of our little town in Nevada.

"Well, according to Google Maps, it's somewhere in the Fire Country. There are a lot of interesting places near it as well. You can get out more," he spoke, lifting up this morning's newspaper. The heading read _Man Strikes Gold in Abandoned Mine_. Guess the comics were more interesting than my dilemma.

I growled. "I get out enough. How will I keep in touch with my friends? I can't exactly just forget them, you know. And what about my boyfriend?" I stood back up and tugged on the end of one of my short pink braids, a nervous habit I had picked up sometime ago.

He let out a short laugh. "You mean those six-foot tall gang members you hang out with?"

I shot him an offended look. "They're not gang members…"

Another laugh, though this one was more of a scoff. "They might as well be. Now why don't you go upstairs and finish packing your things. You're leaving in a few days."

I stomped back into my room and plopped myself back down on the floor, among the walls of boxes ll around me. I was going to have to say goodbye to the guys soon. I'm pretty sure it's go over well with them. I mean, who would over react to a 'Hey guys, so I'm moving hlf way across the country. Actually I'm leaving in a few minutes and this is the last time you're going to see me unless I come back to visit or vice versa so bye!"

Yeah, they totally wouldn't kill me.

**O**

Oh how I wished I had just tied myself to my bedpost and refused to leave. I stood in my new room, staring at the half packed boxes scattered about the floor. They spilled their contents all over the wooden planks, masking the entire thing except a select few spots.

Unpacking took too much effort. Luckily, the room, which was actually the attic, was big enough that I could all shove it in a corner and worry about it later, which I planned on doing.

My mom's house was pretty decent, not like a mansion or anything, though it was close to it, with a few spare rooms here and there. But she thought I'd like a bigger space so she cleaned out the attic, put in an AC incase it got too hot and set up my room. I had decided to name it Tyrone since it made awful noises that sounded like a monster was hiding in the corner, waiting to maul my face off.

I never liked the noises ACs made. It always woke me up. I preferred the fan mode. Tyrone sounded like a monster name so that's what it was going to be. I thought it fit rather well.

At the far end was my bed, queen size with lots of colorful pillows and patterned blankets like the ones you see in Ikea magazines. Next to it was a small bedside table with a lamp and a round blue radio tucked into the shelf on the bottom. A dark wooden dresser was up against the wall.

Well, roof I guess. On the opposite side was a full length mirror and a tall, wide bookcase. At least she understood that I liked to read. Since there were only two plugs in the attic, each had one of those bars with multiple plugs plugged into it so I could hook things up.

Bright fuzzy rugs were scattered on the floor, making the space look less empty. Apparently my mom had some cash to burn because on the other side of my room was a plush dark brown couch and matching loveseat, a few beanbag chairs and a polished wooden case with a flat screen peacefully sitting on top. On either side were two narrow glass cases, practically stretching to the top of the roof, each filled with a wide variety of games and movies. In the case, behind the two glass doors in front, was a DVD player, Xbox 360, Playstation, Kinnect and Wii.

At first, I felt a little dizzy and felt the need to dive down the stairs and tackle my mom, who I just recently re-met. Actually, when she came up to see if I was all right, I practically tackled her to the ground. Apparently she had these things 'lying around' from a previous boyfriend and thought I might like them. Well, except the TV. She went out and bought that herself.

I had asked her why her boyfriend would let her have all of his gaming systems. She only smiled and let out a little laugh. Perhaps my mother was more evil than I had originally thought. Her respect just went up by seven.

It was Saturday, which meant that I had to suffer through a tour of my new school with the Principal. I really didn't want to but if I didn't I would probably end up getting lost.

I should probably change. Don't know how well they might take to sweatpants and a pretty-close-to-a-tubetop tanktop.

I pulled on whatever articles of clothing my hands found first. Luckily it was my Pierce the Veil shirt, the collar cut and stretched, and black skinny jeans. Come to think of it, my whole wardrobe consisted of skinny jeans and band shirts. There were a few plain tanktop, two pairs of sweatpants and few regular shirts mixed in there but that was about it.

Unfortunately, there was no secret door in the floorboards. The stairs were on the side of my room, the door at the bottom. Once I got to the bottom, I flipped off the lights, shut the door and turned the corner. There were a few more flights of stairs I had to go down before I reached the bottom and turned into the kitchen.

My mom was leaning against the counter talking to some guy. He looked like he was in his mid thirties with dark brown hair and wearing a green coaching jacket, which read '_Konoha High Basketball' _on the back in big white lettering.

Finally noticing me, my mother stopped talking and smiled. "Hey there. Sakura, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend Ryo. He's the boy's basketball coach at your new school. Ryo, this is my daughter." She looked back and forth between us.

Ryo smiled at me, wrinkles forming in the corners of his eyes. "Nice to meet you Sakura. Your mother hasn't stopped talking about you since her and your father discussed you moving here." My stomach lurched. Moved here. I wanted to go home. Back to my father and my friends and my old life.

I tugged at my braids. "Nice to meet you too."

My mom smiled, tying her hair into a loose bun, strands framing her face. She had the same color hair as I did. I guess unnaturally pink hair runs in the family. Wonder where it started. She looked quite young for her age, and fun to be around at that. "All right, you ready to check out your new school? I think you'll like it."

An upset frown formed on my face. "No, but I have no choice in this so let's just get it over with," I mumbled as I slipped on my scuffed up converse.

She rolled her eyes and grabbed her car keys, heading towards the door. They made a loud jingle as they were jostled about. "Oh relax. It's not like I'm sending you to boot camp. You only have two more years after this one and then you're done. And you're walking in midyear so it's not even like you have to spend three whole years with these people." Oh great, another optimist. Just my luck.

Ryo followed us out, locking the door behind him. "It's a nice school. And with that many kids I'm sure you'll make plenty of new friends," he said. Optimist number three. I just hope the town wasn't full of them.

We all piled in my mom's silver Mustang, her taking the driver's, Ryo taking the passenger's and me in the back. Figures they'd have a Mustang. Why couldn't it be something simple like a Honda? Just how wealthy was my mother? Jesus Christ, I was becoming a bit overwhelmed. I hated snobby rich people and I was going to be living among them for practically three years.

Teenage suicide didn't seem like such a bad idea at the moment.

For a second, just a quick mere second, I felt like Chihiro from Spirited Away. Maybe we'd run into a tunnel leading to the spirit world and I could escape there for a while. Seemed like a good enough thought to me.

**O**

The school was within walking distance, which helped a lot since both Ryo and my mom wouldn't be home to drive me to school or even pick me up everyday because of their work schedules and there was no way I was taking the bus. Driving myself wasn't an option yet so walking it was.

We pulled into one of the parking spaces up near the front doors and climbed out. I wouldn't have called it a high school at all. No, it was more of an Academy. Based on the mansion like houses and monstrous buildings we passed on the way here, I kind of figured that the whole town was filled with people who could afford the expensive things in life. If so, what the hell do my mother and Ryo do for jobs?

We went into the smaller building out front, branching off from the main building. There were three other buildings around the main one, all looking like they had two to three floors each, including the main building. Why would you need that many classrooms?

The area we had walked into was the main office. The scent of rubber gloves and hand sanitizer was thick, almost intoxicating. Though it made sense since the nurses' office was right across from the main desk. Normally there would be someone sitting there, asking what you needed, but it was the weekend so no one was around. Except for the principal that is and what I guessed to be her assistant.

The two of them sat on the couches that were set up against the wall. As soon as they noticed us come in, they rose. The taller one, which I guessed to be the principal, stepped forward. She had long blonde hair, which were tied in two long ponytails, very noticeable eyes and a quite large chest, which was being shown off a little too much due to her low cut shirt. Her assistant stood behind. She was shorter and looked calmer. She had dark almost blue hair, cut short, though it fit her quite nicely. She smiled weakly and almost looked sympathetic.

The principal grinned. "Well hello there. You must be Sakura Haruno. You can just call me Tsunade. Welcome to Konoha High!" I was scared. This woman was quite intimidating. Was I really going to have to spend the next two and a half years dealing with this? And this was just the tour.

**Okie dokie! First chapter done! Second one is on it's way! I really like how this story is going so far though I should make them longer. I will keep it in mind. I love long chapters anyway. So what do you think? You can tell me by reviewing! Thanks!**

**Ugh, this chapter is waaayyy too short...**


	2. Uniforms,School Boys and Pedo Janitors

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters**

**O**

**2.** **Uniforms, School Boys and Pedophile Janitors**

The heels of Tsunade's stilettos clicked loudly as they hit the marble floors. What kind of school has marble floors? My old one had carpet. She led us down the winding hallways of the main building, pausing at a set of double doors. "This is the auditorium, where we have all of the assemblies. It is also where the school plays are rehearsed and put on. They're run by Mrs. Shio, the music teacher." Wonder if it's anything like High School Musical. That would make my day. How the boys would laugh at that one.

Tsunade let out a dramatic huff. "Alright, here's how things work. There are four buildings. Building A, Building B, Building C and Building D. Building A is the main building, holding your math and literature classes. It's also where the auditorium, cafeteria and gym are located. Building B is where you will find the science classes and labs. Building C is for History classes, including Holocaust and World History. Finally, Building D is where your language classes and everything else will be held, such as Cooking and Sewing, Health, Music, your Art classes, those types of things. Your schedule and map will be handed to you at the end of the tour. Is this clear?" she asked, looking down at me.

I nodded. I was going to get lost, it was certain. This place was huge. How was I not supposed to? At least I was getting a map.

She smiled. "All right! Now, for the rest of the tour. Down here are your Algebra 1, Algebra 11, Geometry and Calculus classes. Depending on who you have for your homeroom teacher, your locker may be in any building," she explained. This whole thing was beginning to bore me. I didn't really need this tour. Just an explanation would have been just fine.

I started to stare out the large glass windows as we walked down the hallway. A large field of green vegetation stared back. There were a few benches scattered between the buildings and random trees. Maybe they let you sit outside for lunch. That would be nice.

The sunbeams shone brightly through the polished glass, spilling out onto the floors, illuminating the dark corners. I almost felt like I was in a glass box: Wide and open, yet confined.

My attention was snapped back to the group when I heard Tsunade yelling at someone.

"Naruto! Sasuke! Why are you two here? It's the weekend! Normally you're itching to get out of class! Well, Naruto that is. And why were you in Kakashi's room? And how did you get in? The doors were locked!" she hissed at him, her expression quickly changing from cool and relaxed to pissed off in a matter of seconds.

The blonde haired boy looked totally calm. He shrugged the issue off. "Oh chill out Grandma. I forgot my bag in Kakashi Sensei'sroom. The janitor let me in," he spoke calmly. The taller dark haired boy behind him let out a 'hn'.

Tsunade just about fell over. "You couldn't wait til Monday to get it?" The blonde grinned a lopsided grin. Naruto was his name?

He casually slung his bag over his shoulder. "No way! Hinata-chan let me have some of her lunch on Friday so I didn't get to eat my instant ramen and I'm out at home. The thought of ramen just sitting in my bag, which was here, all by itself was just too devastating so I came to get it back. And Teme here is like my bodyguard incase there happened to be an axe murderer around." He wasn't serious, was he? No, he couldn't be.

She sighed long sigh. "Naruto, you're too much. I don't know if I can take this whole 'Principal' thing for much longer with you around for two more years." She rubbed her temples.

Finally, Naruto noticed the rest of us. "Hey! Are you a new student?" he cried loudly, pointing to me.

I blinked a few times before speaking up. "Erm, yeah, I am. I'm starting on Monday." He had the most brilliantly bright blue eyes I had ever seen before and a really cute lopsided grin, though he seemed a bit high strong.

But my god, they were both very attractive. But I sure as hell wasn't going to be one of those girls who would get all awkward and giddy around them. I practically lived with a bunch of attractive older guys back at home who would walk around half naked and strip all over the place all the time. This was nothing.

He grinned again. "I didn't know we were getting a new student! This is great! I'm Naruto Uzumaki and this here is teme, but his real name is Sasuke Uchiha," he stated, perhaps a little too loudly.

Sasuke rolled his dark orbs. "Oh shut it, dobe."

I let out a laugh. "Hey there. I'm Sakura Haruno, and yes, my hair is natural," I said, unconsciously tugging on the end of the left braid. I liked having my hair in two low braids because, well, one, it kept it out of my face and two, it didn't look awful.

"I was going to ask that! Well it works for you. Anyway, I gotta get back to my place before my stomach explodes. I'll see you on Monday Sakura-chan!" he said, grabbing Sasuke by the arm and heading down the hallway, towards the door. Before they was completely gone, Naruto turned back and yelled, "Oh, and watch out for the janitor! He's kind of a pedophile! But you don't really have to worry because he normally goes for little boys!" And then they disappeared around the corner.

"A pedophile for a janitor and a blonde knucklehead who breaks in for ramen and a socially awkward emo. This seems like a great school," I grumbled, being dragged towards Building B while Ryo and my mom laughed.

"Hey, looks like you just made two new friends though Sakura. That's a step in the right direction!" Ryo said enthusiastically, beaming down at me, my height being a bit on the short side.

I looked at him with a blank face. "Your optimism sickens me." He laughed loudly but I didn't see what was so funny.

**O**

"U-_Uniforms?_ No fucking way! That was _not _part of the deal! No. No. No. _No. _NO. _NO. _I refuse to wear a uniform. Absolutely not," I scoffed in disbelief. Nobody discussed school uniforms with me and even if they had, I still wouldn't have been okay with it.

My mom sighed. "Sakura, they're just uniforms. They won't kill you. And you only have to wear it during the day. Change when you get home if you so please. If you want to go to school here, then you have to wear them," she spoke softly. It wasn't helping.

My eye twitched and I lost it. "But that's the thing _mom! _I don't want to go to school here! I want to go back to Nevada with dad! I want to go back to my old life where I had friends and I knew everyone! Where I grew up with my closest friends! I want to be with my boyfriend who will probably move on from me because I'm halfway across the goddamn country! But I can't because I'm stuck _here _in this snobby rich bitch town!" I yelled at her. Tears were starting to form in the corners of my eyes but I held them back. I refuse to cry in front of anybody.

She leaned back just the slightest bit and looked a little shocked and perhaps hurt. I spun on my heels and stalked off in the direction I was facing, not looking back once. I didn't know where I was going but at that point, I really didn't care. I knew it wasn't her fault but I just needed to be alone so I could think straight.

She started to go after me but was stopped when Ryo put a hand on her shoulder. "Let her go. It'll be best if we let her cool down on her own time," he spoke softly.

"You're right," she sighed tiredly.

Tsunade spoke up. "Well, for the time being, I can give you the rest of the paperwork and such." She turned on her heel and kept walking, my mother and Ryo trailing behind.

**O**

Quickly enough, I found a backdoor by one of the classrooms that led outside to the place I had been staring at through the window. It was pretty much enclosed with all of the walls of the buildings around it. It seemed comfortable and relaxing. I sat down on one of the metal benches to collect my thoughts.

Maybe I shouldn't have exploded at her like that. But I had to get it out and direct it at someone. Mr. Porkins, my giant stuffed piggie just wasn't working anymore. That and I looked like a lunatic venting to a stuffed animal. But it works when I'm alone.

A light breeze blew past, sending strands of my hair flying in all different directions. Too many things were happening all at once and it was giving me a headache. I dug in my pocket for my iPod. It was a simple Nano but I didn't care. I loved Ayden like he was a real person. I also had a habit of naming random things of mine. My iPod was Ayden, my phone was Cameron, my laptop was Patricia, my stuffed piggie was Mr. Porkins and my purple unicorn Pillow Pet was named Blue. I felt like they made my life more interesting.

I scrolled through the cover art until I found what I was looking for. Metric's Sick Muse blasted through the earphones. Normally I didn't listen to Indie music but it was starting to grow on me. I first heard Metric through my boyfriend Deidara since he's a huge Indie fanatic and it just kind of went on from there.

After a few minutes it changed to Stadium Love. It was one of my favorite songs out of the random bunch I had. Deidara had burned me a CD with a bunch of their stuff on it so I had whatever I had. Though I had to say, the bet was pretty intense. It lifted all of the invisible weight off of my shoulders within a matter of seconds. It was only temporary of course.

A shadow fell in my line of sight and a figure stood in the way of the sun. I looked up to see who it was.

A lanky man with long black hair stood in front of me. He had on a creepy grin and what looked like purple eyeliner ringed all around his eyes. His cheekbones stuck out dramatically, making him appear quite frail but intimidating. Was this the janitor Naruto was talking about? God I hope not.

I pulled out my ear buds. "Uhm, can I help you?" I asked warily.

His grin stayed plastered on his face and he stayed where he was. "No, just enjoying the _view_," he said, staring me, or more precisely, my chest. Oh my god, this was the pedophile. I was almost sure of it.

I stood up and stuck Ayden back in my pocket. Metric was going to have to wait. "Well why don't you go '_enjoy the view' _somewhere else. This area is full," I hissed.

He smirked. I grimaced at how his face looked. Quite unattractive I must say. That, and he looked to be about forty. "I know another place I would like to fill. Come with me and I can show you."

Oh fuck no. That was it. I swiftly brought my knee up between his legs and walked away as he groaned in pain and fell to the ground.

That Naruto guy was lying son of a bitch. The pedo janitor did _not _just like little boys. I bet he had a van.

**Second chapter up! Read and review bitches!**

**Hey, check out my blog! missprettyinpunk. wordpress. com I'm trying to get it more popular**

**And come talk to me every once in a while! I need new friends!**


	3. New School,New Friends,New Enemies

**I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. **

**O**

**3. New School, New Friends, New Enemies**

My obnoxious alarm clock blared loudly into my ears, quickly awakening me from my slumber, much to my dismay. Why did I place it so close to my head again? I settled on the fact that the universe was out to get me.

I slammed my fist onto it so it would shut up and reluctantly rolled out of bed. I was going to have to wear the damn uniform. It lay folded up at the edge of my dresser, innocently staring up at me. I picked up the pieces and layed them across my bed so I could see what they looked like.

A bubble of happiness got caught in my throat and I laughed. I was going to look like an emo sailor. The top was a black three-quarter sleeve with a white collar that extended and tied in the front with a single black stripe going through it. There was a black skirt that went to about mid-thigh and white knee-high socks with a black stripe around the top. There were black flats to tie the whole outfit together.

Flats. Great. I would be slipping those on and off throughout my classes. Damn my nervous habits.

Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad anymore.

I quickly threw the uniform on, strung on a bunch of random bracelets along each of my arms, lined my eyes with a thick line of black eyeliner and pulled my hair into their signature braids. I tied the ends each with a piece of red ribbon so they would make bows.

Other than breakfast, I was done and I still had a half an hour til school started. It only took five minutes to get to school anyways so I could procrastinate all I wanted.

Not yet ready to go downstairs, I turned on Patricia and logged onto facebook, even though I hated the website. It was completely pointless. The little outline of person in the left hand corner of the page turned red, indicating that I had a new friend request. I clicked on the little icon to see who it was.

'_Naruto RamenKing Uzumaki wants to be your friend.'_

I blinked. That was fast. I hit 'accept' and typed up a quick new status.

'_First day of my new school. Have to wear a uniform...hopefully my manbitches back home haven't killed each other yet. Love and miss you guys. Come visit me sometime before I die of boredom! Need to see you again!'_

I posted it and then shut Patricia.

I dug through my bag and pulled out my schedule and looked over it again. I had homeroom and Geometry for first period with Kakashi Sensei. That was the classroom Naruto and Sasuke come out of the other day. I knew where that was.

After that was Biology Honors with Asuma Sensei, then Drawing 11 with Kurenai-Sensei, then lunch, World History with Ibiki-Sensei, French 11 with Kabuto-Sensei and Creative Writing with Jiraiya-Sensei. I had taken French 1 at my other school so it worked out well.

Though that would all change come February when the classes switched. That means I would have to suffer through gym. Damn, so close.

And luckily the paper also told me which classes were in which buildings so I wouldn't be wandering around the school grounds like an incompetent fool.

I slid on my shoes, grabbed my bag and headed down stairs.

It felt weird not having anyone else home. It seemed so…empty. My dad worked at home so he was always there when I woke up. Now I had no one. Literally. The thought almost made me want to cry. I missed home. Was I ever going to be able to go back?

I hope so.

An orange was all I wanted to eat. The thought of food didn't go well with my stomach. Probably because I was nervous about going to a new school with new kids who would probably hate me and I would be shunned to the back of every classroom and have to sit by myself at lunch. I looked down t my half eaten orange. It suddenly didn't look so appetizing.

I wrapped up the other half and stuck it in the fridge. Might as well not waste it. Throwing food out made me feel bad anyway. I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked out the front door.

Onward to the rest of my life.

O

I was half way to the building when I felt Cameron buzzing against my thigh. I dug through my bag to find him. I had to stick it in there since there were no pockets in the uniforms. My face lit up when I saw it was from Deidara.

_Good luck with your first day. Dont kill anyone!_

_Love you_

_And the guys miss you like hell. _

_Don't be surprised if your phone explodes in the next ten minutes_

My day just instantly got better. I smiled and texted back. If I stopped walking I would probably be late so I multitasked.

_Oh thanks. I'll try_

_Love you too_

_I miss you guys too. You should just come and get me. I can ditch this stupid school and come back home. I'm not in school yet so I wouldn't even have to face anyone!_

_Well texting you guys is better than paying attention in school_

_What if no one likes me! I'm so screwed_

Well since I would probably be getting texts all day might as well just slide my phone down the front of my shirt. It'd be easier, minus the awkward vibrating. Being a girl had its advantages though.

_Right. Let me just start up my portal and then I'll come and get you :P_

_School is stupid. I only have the rest of this year though_

_I'm sure everyone will like you. They'll probably drop dead at the sight of your beauty_

_But hey, watch out for any boys! Remind them that you're taken! I don't share lol _

I smiled and started to text back when my phone got assaulted with text messages.

Kisame:

_Don't kill anyone_

Hidan:

_It's so boring here without you. I can't make fun of the town and it's stupid as shit people without you_

Tobi:

_Tobi misses Sakura-chan! Why did she leave?!_

Sasori:

_Come home soon. I hate waiting_

Zetsu:

_Come home Cherry, **we miss your cooking**_

Itachi:

_I don't see why you needed to move halfway across the country. It's stupid. Buy a plane ticket and get back here_

Kakuzu:

_You're costing me more to send you presents from all of us for holidays through the mail. (everyone is too lazy to pay for their own shit) And they're going to be big. Ugh, shipping.._

Pein:

_I hardly see you anyway because of college and all but it sucks that I couldn't be around to say goodbye. Can't even imagine how the guys are. You should get your mom to let you come back. Or us to move in with you_

_And Konan says hi_

I mentally groaned. Don't get me wrong, I was ecstatic to be talking to them but how was I going to respond to all of these texts? And I was getting closer to school grounds every second.

Though with every step I took, my stomach would turn more and more. Being the new girl scared the shit out of me. I was probably going to end up being that awkward loner in the corner. I would have been at my other school if it weren't for the guys. They had my back and defended me. Here I had no one. Guess I would have to defend myself. Maybe I could get kicked out and go back home. I wouldn't go to the same school but I would still be nearby.

I slid Cameron back into my bra, deciding that I would text them all back later. My fingers would fall off and I would probably end up walking into the street and get hit by a car if I attempted to do it now.

I was about to pull Ayden out, wanting to listen to Pierce The Veil or something when I heard footsteps behind me. Being the paranoid girl I was, I craned my neck around to see if I was about to get raped or not.

Hey, it could happen.

A few feet back was a boy, a little older than I was by the look of it, wearing the male version of my uniform. He must be on his way to school as well. He had blood red hair and what looked like eyeliner ringed around his eyes, which I found incredibly attractive. Guyliner was the shit.

I guess I wasn't the only one with abnormal hair color. Unless it was dye of course. Then my point would immediately become invalid.

As I was turning my head back around, he spoke up. "Hey, are you new here?"

I stopped walking and half turned around, waiting for him to catch up so I wouldn't have to yell. Plus it was nice to walk with someone. As he got closer, I could see that he had a thin black ring with a small ball holding the two ends together on the left side of his bottom lip. He also had the symbol for 'love' tattooed on the corner of his forehead. I would have missed it since it was the color of his hair but I managed to catch a glimpse of it.

Could you get a tattoo at this age? Wasn't it like, illegal?

When I went to speak to him I was met by a pair of deep seafoam colored eyes. "Yeah, I am. Moved in with my mother a few days ago," I answered as we started walking again. He was a bit taller than me but I wasn't surprised since I was pretty short in general.

He glanced down at me before looking straight ahead again. "No offense, but why would you want to move here? Once you get past the exterior, this town is pretty much shit." I wondered if it had a gang. Every town needs a gang. Especially one that kills people. That'd be pretty cool.

I sighed at the thoughts of why I was here. "Well I got kicked out of my old school and instead of moving to some other school in the area, I was sent half way across the damn country to live with my mother, aka here." The thought sickened me a bit.

He 'hmf'ed. "What'd you do to get kicked out? You don't really seem like someone who would cause trouble," he said smugly.

A smirk formed on my lips. "I know, and I love it. Honestly, causing chaos is kind of my thing but I can pull off the 'innocent' look as well. It comes in hand from time to time. And I got into a fight with some kid. He was trying to start shit so I defended myself. Long story short, he ended up at the bottom of a flight of stairs with several broken bones. But I swear to God those stairs were not there a few days before." It was his own fault though.

He nodded. "That's pretty fucked up. You defend yourself yet you were the one to get kicked out." He had a point. The whole issue was almost pathetic. "Name's Gaara Sabaku by the way," he added, staring blankly ahead.

The school was starting to come into my vision. With every step my heart beat a little faster. Thank god I wasn't prone to panic attacks. "Sakura Haruno."

I heard him snort. "Did your parents purposely name you 'Sakura' because of your hair color or was it just an odd coincidence?" he asked, lifting up a few strands of my hair with the tips of his fingers.

If I had a dollar everyone asked me that…

"Honestly, I don't know. I just go with it." I shrugged.

The rest of the way there we talked some more and got to know each other a little better. He gave me a few tips with the teachers. Kakashi-Sensei was usually late and would make up some excuse for it, if you got Gai-Sensei to talk about the 'Power of Youth' that class would be just like a free period and to follow whatever Anko-Sensei had to say during Gym, no questions asked.

Though I did have to question whether this boy had any emotions or not. He was pretty bland. But he was pretty cool either way. At least he wasn't an arrogant prick.

By the time we reached the entrance, I had made my first friend.

O

I bid Gaara goodbye at the door to Kakashi-Sensei's class, since we didn't have the same homeroom, which kind of sucked.

I slowly opened the door and slipped in, trying not to attract too much attention to myself because my hair did that enough for me, and walked over to Kakashi-Sensei's desk. He looked to be a middle-aged man with gray gravity defying hair that practically stood straight up. A piece of cloth covered a majority of his face except for one of his eyes. Wonder what's up with that. He was looking down at a small book in his hand, not paying attention to anything around him.

A bit of disgust washed over my face when I realized what he was reading.

"Yes?" he asked, not bothering looking up.

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, tugging on the ends of my braids. "Er, I'm Sakura Haruno, the new student?" How I hated conversations with teachers.

He glanced up from his book and then set it on his desk. "Ah yes, Sakura, they told me that you would be coming soon." He then turned his attention to his class, half of which were either talking or sleeping. "Class, this is Sakura. I expect you to be nice to her and welcome her to our school." His attention was back to me for a second before going back to his book. "Sit wherever you want."

And that was that. I turned to face the class but before I could even scan the room for an empty desk, I heard someone calling my name. "Oi! Sakura-chan! Over here!" I looked over to the right, only to see Naruto waving his arms around like an idiot, trying to get my attention.

I inwardly smiled and walked over. But before I did anything else, I brought my fist down on top of his head.

"OW! What was that for?!" he cried, clutching his head and glaring lightly.

I returned the glare. "That was for the pedophile janitor thing! He does not just like little boys you liar!"

He blinked at me for a few seconds. "Wait, what? Did he go after you?" he asked, confused.

"Yes," I hissed, crossing my arms over my chest.

That's when Uchiha turned towards me. "That's odd. He only goes for little boys. And I mean kindergartner little boys. Not female high school students," he said.

"Sakura-chan's so pretty she can turn a gay pedophile straight!" Naruto said a little too loudly.

My eye twitched. "Naruto, shut up before someone takes that the wrong way!" I hissed. I felt really comfortable talking to him though, like we've known each other for years instead of a day. Not even.

He held up both of his hands in defense. "Sorry sorry."

And then we lapsed into awkward silence of a few seconds.

"Um, Sakura-chan?"

"Yes?"

"You can sit behind us if you want."

Oh yeah, I still needed a seat.

I sighed. "Oh all right," I said, walking to the desk directly behind them. And it was right by the window too, sweet.

As soon as I sat down Naruto instantly turned around and leaned on my desk, smiling mischievously. "I think you pissed Teme's fan girls," he said, jabbing his thumb in the direction of a group of girls glaring murderously in my direction.

I shot him a funny look. "Fan girls?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. They're seriously possessive. You even look at Teme and they'll rip out your throat. And you actually got him to talk to you." Does that mean Uchiha was antisocial as well?

"Fan girls," I said slowly. "I thought those were only in fan fictions and over dramatic anime. I've only seen passionate admirers, not fan girls…"

Uchiha had fan girls…okay, yes, he was attractive but it wasn't like he was drop dead gorgeous or anything.

I heard him let out a little sigh while Naruto continued. "Nope. Teme's got them and they're all insane. Especially Karin. She's not in here, thank god. She's like the leader of his fan club. I wouldn't fuck with her. She scares the shit out of me," he ranted.

My eyes were practically bulging out of my head. "Oh come on! That's absolutely pathetic! Why would you spend your high school years obsessing over one guy when you can actually go out and live? He has a fan club? My god! I'm sorry and I'm probably going to sound like a bitch for saying this but you're not anything special Uchiha," I said. A fan club? Really?

By this point Sasuke had turned around to face me and the majority of the class had started listening in on what I had to say.

He raised his eyebrow at my statement. "Really now? You're not going to turn fan girl on me? Most girls do," he said. He almost looked surprised but it might have been my eyes messing with me.

"I wouldn't be caught dead fan girling over anyone. Except maybe Andy Biersack because hellloooo, that guy is beautiful. But even still, if I ever got the chance to meet him, I wouldn't go all stupid and giddy. I'd be cool so he wouldn't think I was a freak. I look at you and all I see is another attractive guy and the world is full of those. And I hate to ask, I really do, but what's up with your hair? It looks like the back side of a chicken for crying out loud. I don't see why all of these girls are going after you. I wouldn't," I said with a huff, crossing my arms again, satisfied with everything I just said. Somebody should.

I had expected him to blow up and start yelling at me. Hell, I wanted it to happen.

But it didn't.

You know what he did? Do you want to know what he did?

He smirked.

That bastard smirked at me.

"We'll see about that," he said cooly before turning around. Before I could think of anything to say, Kakashi-Sensei decided to start the lesson.

What the hell did that mean?

O

**Gahh I feel awful. My brain is pounding against my skull and i can't breathe...and my eyes hurt. I've hardly eaten but now I'm hungry so i think i'll go get some food. Spent the whole day in bed watching Shugo Chara. **

**There was someting I was going to change about this chapter...or maybe it was the next one...but I can't seem to remember. Hmm...oh well.**

**Anyways, review? Maybe?**


	4. Uchihas and Artsy Dark Haired Bastards

** Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.**

**O**

**Uchihas and Artsy Dark Haired Bastards**

Minus my little argument with Uchiha earlier that morning, my day had been going pretty well.

Biology Honors was pretty easy since I had learned most of it at my old school. That class was basically just a review. I was currently sitting in Drawing 11 next to Gaara, working on sketches of simple poses a human body was most likely to do. And standing stick straight was not one of them, according to Kurenai-Sensei.

With both Deidara and Sasori being art fanatics, they taught me a lot of the things I knew now. While they both favored 3D art, I tended to like drawing and painting more. Deidara made sculptures while Sasori customized dolls. Both of their works were amazing and I brought some of the ones they gave me with me so I would have something to remember them by.

Even though it seemed like they didn't do much of actually drawing they were both exceptionally good at it. Without them I still probably wouldn't know how to draw a stick figure correctly.

I was in the middle of giving Gaara some pointers with the way joints work when I felt someone sit down in front of us.

"You know, you should work on making your art better instead of trying to help someone else, which you are failing at anyway," he said casually. I looked up in shock.

"Excuse me?" I asked coldly, narrowing my eyes at the boy in front of us. His skin was a chalky white and his eyes were really dark, almost black, but dull and lifeless. His hair was dark as well and cut quite short. He looked unnaturally thin and frail, like if I were to touch him he would crumble into a pile of dust.

He didn't look at me. He just started working on his sketches. Did he just come over here to insult me? "Sai, cut the shit," Gaara hissed, glaring menacingly. He looked pretty scary.

Mental note: Don't piss off Gaara.

Sai looked up and smirked at him. "Speaking of cutting, how are your wrists Sabaku?"

Ouch. Harsh.

Gaara simply held up his clean, uncut wrists. "See? No cuts faggot. Now piss off." His tone was low and deadly, his eyes fierce and wild. Damn.

Sai shrugs. "So you used a little makeup. Big deal." He turned to me. "And your hair looks awful by the way. Next time, you should stick to your normal color instead of trying to dye it and change how you look."

Oh.

Fuck no.

I wiped my head up to face him. I was calm on the outside but inside I was ripping him to shreds. "For your _information_, this _is_ my natural color. Maybe you should get to know someone before you judge them. Now how bout you shut up and go eat a sandwich? You look like a skeleton," I said, my words dripping with poison.

I wasn't going to take this shit. No way. Sakura Haruno will be pushed around no more. Gaara smirked and nudged my leg with his knee, giving me a silent 'nice one'.

He snorted. "Well then it looks like the universe is screwing you over. That shade is terrible. And I do eat. I just have a high metabolism. Maybe _you_ should get to know someone before you judge them, Ugly.

"I happen to like my hair, thank you very much. I really don't give a damn what you think," I simply stated. It felt like we were having a normal conversation but in reality I was ready to take away his ability to have children.

"Hm, well that's too bad that you're so oblivious to how bad you look." This kid had nerve. It took guts to come up to a complete stranger and bluntly insult them for no particular reason.

I looked at him for a bit. Not with anger or hate. Not with anything. "You know, I feel bad for you. I think that you use insults and hatred as a defense because underneath it all is just a scared little boy looking for attention. If you weren't so cruel, no one would pay attention to you. You're afraid of being alone, aren't you? Being mean is the only way you think people will notice you." I stated. Even though I said it with no attention they still came out harshly and with a sting. You know what they say-the truth hurts.

He looked back at me in shock before abruptly turning his head away from me. "You don't know anything about me," he snapped.

I smiled at him. "I don't have to. I can just tell," I said, continuing to work on my sketches.

And from then until lunch, Sai actually shut up.

Lunch finally rolled around and I was ready to chew off my fingers at that point. I had no idea where I was going to I just followed Gaara. As soon as we got out, he elbowed me lightly. "Wow, you totally called him out…how'd you do it?" he asked as stopping by his locker, since it was in this building.

"I thought it was pretty obvious. I feel bad for him, you know? I think all he wants is to have a few friends," I said, leaning against the locker next to his, balancing all of my books in my arms. Luckily my locker was in Building A, the one we were headed to.

Gaara shrugged and closed his locker. "I dunno. He would have friends if he were a little nicer to people. He brings it on himself." Déjà vu. We began walking out of Building D and over to A.

I sighed. "I don't know." The weather was gorgeous today. It wasn't freezing but it wasn't scorching, more of somewhere in between which makes sense because it was the end of October. We were lucky enough to get Second Lunch, which was right in the middle of the day which meant the sun was right above us, casting a warm glow across the grounds. A few students were walking around, either moving to another class or going to lunch.

Luckily, Building A was the farthest building from D so we got to enjoy our time outside. Though it will suck when it started to snow or rain.

Gaara stretches. "So Sakura, what are your last three classes?" he asked his tone sounding quite bored.

"Um," I start. "After lunch I have World History with Ibiki-Sensei, then French 11 with Kabuto-Sensei and finally Creative Writing with Jiraiya-Sensei," I said, reading from my schedule, which I had pulled from one of my binders.

We entered Building A and continued on to my locker, which was right by Kakashi-Sensei's room. "Eesh, that's an interesting bunch of teachers. Good luck with that. But we have French 11 together. To be honest though, Kabuto-Sensei scares me."

I shot him a weird look as we turned the corner and found my locker. I had been assigned it while on the tour with Tsunade-Sama. "Why's that?" I shoved my books into the back of my locker and grabbed a few bucks from my bag for food.

He gave me a nonchalant shrug. "He just has that…vibe. You'll have to see for yourself." Oh how fantastic. Because that's just what I wish for every night; queer teachers. How'd you know?

"Well that's fun. Let's go. My stomach is about to eat itself," I whined a little locking my locker and tugging on his sleeve impatiently.

He rolled his eyes at my attitude. "Calm your hormones. The cafeteria is that way," he points down the hall and to a large pair of double doors, which were currently swung open. "We can eat outside since it's nice out and there aren't a lot of people," he stated.

"I don't care as long as I get food." At that point I was ready to drag him there. He puts up his hands defensively as we walked into the filled room. The line wasn't all that short so it wasn't even like we had to wait around.

I browsed over the selection, not really finding anything that I liked. Pizza, sandwiches, salads, chips. That's when I noticed the shelf full of packages of poptarts and I nearly fell over. Poptarts were like Jesus in my eyes. If I had to, I could survive off of those things. And the best part was there was no shortage of flavors. I decided on Strawberry and Brown Sugar and Cinnamon. After that I was satisfied and ready to go.

Gaara was a little further ahead, picking out a drink to go with his sandwich. I happily skipped over to him. "Just poptarts? That's it?" he asked, eyeing my selection of food.

People always judge my obsession with poptarts. The damn things were filling. "There are two in each pack, ergo four poptarts in total," I stated, feeling like a smartass.

"Touché."

I paid for me food, as did he, and we began walking towards the back door, which led outside. As we did, I couldn't help but noticed a few people looking at us and whispering. I sped up and walked beside Gaara. "Ehm, why are people staring at us?" I asked. He simply shrugged but refused to look at me. For a split second I thought I saw sadness flash through his eyes.

As we walked past a few more people, getting closer to the door, I was able to hear part of their conversation since they were being a bit loud. "Is that Gaara _Sabaku? _I thought he didn't talk to anyone."

"Yeah, but she's new. She doesn't know yet."

"Poor girl. Once she finds out, she'll be running for the hills."

"I'm surprised he's even talking to her. Don't you remember how cold he usually is? He looks quite calm at the moment."

"Think is has anything to do with that girl?"

"I don't know…weird."

What don't I know yet? Was Gaara hiding something? And why was everyone being so cruel to him? He seems really nice. I shrugged the thoughts off and continued outside.

There were quite a few places to sit since there were a bunch of spaces in between, in front of and behind the buildings. We settled for a simple picnic table in between two of the buildings.

I sat down on one side and he sat on the other, unwrapping his sandwich and me my Strawberry poptart. I nibbled on the corner before looking up at Gaara. He was staring at his food, chewing on the corner of his lip. His bangs were covering his eyes, casting a shadow across his face. "Um, Gaara, are you okay?" I asked softly.

As soon as I said something, his head snapped up and whatever mood he was just in was gone. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" I blinked a few times, stunned t the major mood swing.

"U-um, nothing. Nevermind," I stuttered. That was…odd.

I started to bite into my poptart again, both of us settling into a comfortable silence. I used this time to think things over. I had gotten through half of the day, only three more classes to go before I could go home. So far, no homework, which was a relief. Maybe I could go home and video chat with some of the guys-oh my god! I never texted them back!

My poptart was on the table and Cameron in my hands in a matter of seconds. I can't believe I never texted any of them back. They probably thought I died or something. I first texted back Deidara.

_Ahh! I never texted you back! I got caught up in some stuff! So far the day's been easy and I made some friends! I'm not a loner!_

I then proceeded to text the rest of the guys accentually the same thing. I let them know I was still breathing, I have yet to kill anyone and I missed them terribly.

_Ha, it's all right_

_So help me god if all of them are male I'm coming up there and bringing you home_

"Texting a lot of people? You have yet to put that thing down," Gaara commented, noticing my phone and how rapidly my fingers were moving.

A sheepish grin spread across my face. "Yeah, they're my friends from my old school. I practically lived with them. I miss them so much. They're all like my brothers. We were all super close," I admit, sighing at their absence.

_Ugh, no…I made one female friend. A shy girl names Hinata. She's in my Biology class_

_But how about we forget about her and you come up and get me anyways? :D_

"You said that they're like your brothers. Are you implying that they're all males?" he asked, taking a bite.

I nodded. "Mmhhmm, there are nine of them. And I mean, I like grew up with them so it's not like we just randomly met. Oh, and I'm dating one of them. His name's Deidara. Though the thing that irritates me a little bit is that they're all taller and older I am, but not by much so it's not horrible," I explain. Talking about them makes me feel better and less alone.

Gaara choked a little bit. "Nine of them? You're texting nine people? All male? Well aren't you something." His lips turned upward into a smirk.

My eyes rolled. "I'm not a whore, if that's what you were thinking. If you were listening, you would have noticed that I had said that I have a boyfriend, instead of thinking your perverted thoughts," I managed to say in between bites of my Poptart and thinking of what to type to whom.

"I never said you were a whore. I just find it interesting that your little group consists of nine older males and you. Typically it's a little more mixed than that. No offense." He shrugged, finishing his sandwich. It was starting to get late. We would have to get back to class soon.

_I wish I could. Believe me_

_But hey, I'll come up and visit you soon_

_Sound like a plan? _

_And it's good you're making friends. Just don't forget about us :P_

I thought for a moment. "Well, I had a few other people who I would talk to. Especially this one girl, Ino. But she didn't really like hanging out with the rest of my friends. They just didn't clash well so I hung out with her separate from everyone else. Actually, Ino and I were really tight. I quite miss her," I trailed off, now thinking about Ino.

I had met Ino a little after the beginning of sixth grade. We had art class that day and somehow ended up spilling paint all over the place. Of course we thought it was the funniest thing in the world but we had to stay after school and clean it all up. Well it took the better part of three hours so we had plenty of time to talk and get to know each other. We pretty much became best friends after that.

_Well duh! Get your ass up here! It's only been a week and I can't stand having you guys around _

_You know I could never forget any of you_

"Ino. She sounds like a blonde" Gaara stated, picking up his things and standing up. I did the same.

A light laugh bubbled up from my throat. "Actually, she is. And she loves shopping. Ironic, isn't it?" Ino was a downright shoppaholic. It was almost pathetic, but I loved her anyways.

_What about winter break? It's not all that far away and we'll have a week_

He snorted and we walked towards my locker, throwing out our trash on the way. Most of the cafeteria had cleared out by then and the hallways buzzed with students gathering supplies for their next classes. "Makes sense. Most blondes are like that. Not all of them, but most. My sister sure as well isn't."

_Sounds good to me!_

_Gotta go, three more classes left before I'm free!_

_Love you_

I quickly unlocked my locker and grabbed my things. Gaara's locker was all the way in Building D and I didn't want to make him late. "You have a sister?" I asked curiously. I couldn't really see Gaara having any siblings. He just seemed like the 'only child' type.

He nodded and leaned against the locker next to mine. "Yeah. And a brother. They're both older than me though. Temari is the oldest and Kankuro is in the middle. Both of them are out of high school now though. But you can meet them sometime if you want." He said the last part quietly. Aw, Gaara was the baby of the family.

_Okie dokie_

_Love you too_

I smiled at him before shutting my locker. "That's cool. And sure, I'd love to meet them sometime. So I'll see you later?" I said, getting ready to leave for my next class.

"Yeah, sure," he said, giving me a shy half smile before we parted ways.

World History and French 11 went by faster than I had originally thought. Ibiki-Sensei was kind of strict but he was just a big softie underneath. Not that he would ever admit it to anyone. Or show it for that matter. But you could see right through his tough guy act. Or maybe it was just me.

And Gaara was right. Kabuto-Sensei was one creepy guy. And he strangely reminded me of Harry Potter for some reason. It was probably the glasses. But he just had that look. It almost screamed 'pedophile'. Maybe him and the janitor were buddies. I honestly wouldn't be surprised.

Now I was sitting in Creative Writing, which was my last class of the day, thank god. I sat in the back row because I felt more comfortable back there. It helped me think a little better.

I occupied myself by doodling in a spare notebook while the rest of the class filed in. I had already taken it upon myself to ask Jiraiya-Sensei to fill me in. Basically all we were doing at the moment was coming up with our own short horror story. The assignment was perfect for me because I loved writing anyway and horror things were right up my alley.

The chair belonging to the desk in front of me scraped across the floor as someone sat down. I briefly looked up only to see Uchiha smirking down at me. I sent him a scowl before returning to my useless drawings.

Jiraiya-Sensei grinned up at the class and began to call off names to make sure everyone was here before starting the assignment.

"Maaka."

"Here."

Luckily for me they had just started the assignment yesterday so all that was basically done was the outline of the story. None of the details or anything major had been thought up yet. I could come up with all of that in the same amount of time.

"Ruka."

"Here."

What would I write about? I'm sure Jiraiya-Sensei would mind if I made it a gore fest so that was out of the question. Maybe something about clowns. Nobody likes clowns. Or being lost in the woods and feeling like you were being watched. And being watched. I liked that one.

"Uchiha."

"Here."

Upon hearing the name my head snapped up.

Uchiha.

Uchiha.

Oh my god.

Why hadn't I seen it before? Why hadn't I realized that Sasuke and Itachi had the same last name? And they looked similar as well. Could they be related? Uchiha wasn't a very common Surname in the first place.

I leaned forward against my desk, attempting to get closer to him. "Hey, Uchiha." I whispered since Jiraiya-Sensei had started talking.

He leaned back a bit, telling me he was listening. "What?" he asked, looking rather bored.

"This is pretty straightforward but are you related to Itachi Uchiha?" I asked, jade eyes sparkling in wonder. Or at least I like to think. Since my eyes were on my face I couldn't exactly see them to know if they were sparkly or not.

As soon as the words left my mouth, he immediately stiffened. His back twisted so he could look at me. His typical cool and expressionless eyes were dark and cold, slanted into a serious look. "We'll talk about this later," he hissed quietly before turning back around to focus on whatever Jiraiya was saying.

I blinked a few times. Was that a yes or a no? Obviously he knew him or knew of him. Touchy subject I guess.

Alone In These Woods

Sakura Haruno

_Skeletal tree branches arched in such a way that they looked like outstretched hands, reaching for you, waiting to pull you under. The sky began to darken as night grew near, casting long shadows across the cold ground. The sun's rays faded off into the horizon, bringing all of its warmth with it, leaving me to the chill of the night air._

_Thoughts bounced through my skull like ping pong balls. Would I ever find my way out? These dark woods were like complex labyrinths, twisting and turning, each direction leading you deeper into its depths. If you weren't careful they could swallow you whole and you would be lost forever._

_Stopping seemed like a good idea at the moment. There was no point in aimlessly wandering around blind as it grew darker. If I could make it to morning, I could see where I was headed to. Hunger pains were starting to gnaw at my stomach, growing less dull with every passing minute._

_It was currently day five. Five days from when I started wandering. Five days from being at home. Five days from eating real food. I sometimes wondered if anyone noticed I was gone. Probably not._

_If I had not found a few stray streams along the way, I might have not made it this far. Though diving into my subconscious didn't seem like such a bad idea at the moment. It might make the time past faster and possibly less painful. Perhaps I could find peace in all of the chaos. Perhaps not._

_I picked a group of thick trees with their trunks twisted and contorted into various styles. At the moment it didn't quite mattered where I settled down, as long as I felt safe, or s safe as I could get. I squeezed my frail body into a tight little corner of one of the trunks and pulled my scraped up knees to my chest. The lids of my eyes were heavy and slumped down until I was about to pass out._

_That is, until the sickening sound of twigs snapping stirred me from my sleep. My heartbeat quickened with every sound while I tried to cram myself even further into the space. Perhaps if I got far enough back I wouldn't be noticed._

_Long strands of silky black hair got tangled up into stray branches, gently tugging at my scalp. The noises ceased for a few moments before starting up again only louder this time, signifying that whatever was making them was growing closer. I drew in a shaky breath and tried to slow my breathing. No need to attract attention to myself._

_The figure came into view, along with a few more trailing behind. They were giant intimidating black figures, half the height of an average tree and as wide as a refrigerator. They seemed to be wearing black robes with the hood all the way over their heads, therefore covering their faces. In their grimy hands hung brightly lit lanterns illuminating various parts of the forest._

_From what I could tell there were three of them and they most certainly weren't human. They stood in a triangle, facing each other, holding the lights out in front of them. I suppressed a gasp when I realized what their faces looked like. Instead of skin they were covered in oozing sticky black slime. Two wide eyes were places on either side of the face and a large mouth, reaching from ear to ear, was stretched into a grin, showing off their gleaming white razor-like teeth._

_I wanted to scream and cry until there was nothing left; to be able to crawl into my mother's lap and have her everything was okay. I wasn't ready to die. There was still so much I wanted to do with my life. Perhaps if I stayed just like I was, they would leave without noticing me._

_For some reason the urge to sleep was overpowering. Maybe this was all a bad dream. I would wake up in my bed and nothing will have changed. I would be able to go back to my life and my family and live._

_What I didn't know what that my body would be found one month from now, in the exact same spot as it was now. It would be sent out to be investigated for the strange black spots where my flesh used to be._

I sighed tiredly and stared down at the sheets of paper, flexing my aching fingers. Of course this was just a rough draft and would need a lot more work done to it before it could be called finished. But overall I was satisfied with the results.

Jiraiya-Sensei had said that he wanted us to pass them in so he could look over them and see how we were doing so far. He also added that he wanted to make sure no one was slacking off. I didn't blame the guy. By the looks of it, half of the students didn't want to be in the class anyway.

I quickly handed in my paper and headed back to my seat. There was still ten minutes before class ended and I had nothing left to do. Well, there was always the ineffective choice of staring blankly at the clock but it wasn't high on my list of priorities.

I simply went back to my doodling. The whole page was pretty much full except for a few more lone spots scattered here and there. So far I had managed to fill approximately the entire page with small black Xs, save for the giant red X in the middle. But what else was there to do? I suppose I could always text one of the guys but it was almost certain someone would notice and a detention on the first day didn't sound like such a great idea.

Instead of drawing my Xs, I found myself unconsciously recalling parts of conversations Deidara and myself had during the times we actually got to talk. Such as the time we started shouting random lyrics at each other and when he couldn't think of any more, all of the immature insults I had jokingly shot at him. God, did that piss him off. Of course, I just made fun of how red his face got and started calling him my tomato.

Though he did look quite adorable when his face got all pink if I don't say so myself.

Unaware of it, I broke into a grin, recalling the time when Hidan and I had dyed Dei's hair while he was passed out on the couch. Since he was laying down, the colors were uneven and blotchy, the way it was intended to turn out. Yes, it was an evil thing to do but it was only because Dei had decided to paint Hidan's room bright pink the week before. These were just some of the pranks they had been pulling on each other in their long yet-to-end war they had been participating in since they were seven. No body even remembers how the whole thing started but all I knew was that it was funny as hell to watch. I even got to help out in some of them.

Before I knew it, the bell rang out and the class had come to an end. I gathered up all of my books and stood up, getting ready to head for the door, as was everyone else.

Luckily I had a tight grip on the items in my arms because the next thing I knew I was being pulled harshly out of the classroom and outside. I stumbled a few times during the attempt to catch up with Sasuke, who was practically running ahead of me, his grip tightening around my forearm.

We stopped by the entrance to the building but away from the public eye.

"Uch-" I started but he wouldn't let me finish.

"How do you know my brother?" he asked fiercely, turning around to face me, his hand gripping my shoulder.

So that's what his problem was. "Um, well, he's kind of one of my best friends. I met him years go," I answered truthfully. Groups of students started to shuffle out of the buildings and scattered to find their rides. Unfortunately I hadn't even gotten the chance to get to my locker yet.

Unlike everyone else, I had met Itachi when I was a little older. Kisame randomly showed up with him one day. I was thirteen at the time, he being fourteen. Apparently his family had found Itachi wandering around town with no place to go so they took him in. At first, they were going to return him back to his parents but he convinced them not to.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at me. "You're friends with that _monster? _Are you _serious?_" he hissed. I couldn't help but wince a little bit as his knuckles turned white.

I desperately trued to pry his fingers off but they were stiff and convinced that they were going to stay where they were. "Yeah. Is that a problem? And he's not a monster. Sasuke, you're hurting me," I said and he immediately let go. I rubbed my shoulder out of instinct.

He looked to the side and muttered a 'sorry.' I stared at him for a moment, waiting for him to go on. His eyes closed and he let out a long sigh before looking back at me. "To answer your first question, yes, I'm related to Itachi. He's my older brother. He's also a traitor. See, a few years back, one of his friends had gotten into trouble. Like, legal trouble. So being the idiot he was, Itachi had somehow managed to hack into our father's police files, since he's the head of the Police force around here, and destroyed all of the evidence there was. And that wasn't the first time. But after that, he just up and left, leaving us behind," Sasuke explained, his face twisting up to grimace at the memories.

I stared at him, now aware of why he had freaked when I had mentioned his brother's name. Breaking into police records couldn't exactly be taken lightly, especially when their father was the head of it all. "I'm sorry. That must have been rough on you guys. I'll make sure to give him a good punch the next time I see him," I said laughing a bit, trying to lighten the mood a little bit.

His solemn expression was telling me that my attempt was drastically failing. I immediately shut up.

After a moment of staring into my face as if deciding whether to consume my soul or not, he let out a long sigh and shook his head, sending raven locks in all different directions. "It's…not your fault. He just pisses me off so much," he muttered bitterly, clenching his jaw tightly.

He didn't look me in the eye anymore. It was more of a dramatic overly-used faraway look characters do in cheesy novels. And his lack of normal emotions was a bit irritating as well. It was like he was just a character sketch someone doodled out of boredom.

Such as the Twilight Series for example. Edward needed to pull the six foot pole out of his ass and Bella needed to get emotions. Or, the actors did at least. And another thing, vampires don't sparkle in the sunlight. They burst into flames and die. Not sparkle. Therefore, Edward was a fairy, not a vampire.

Too bad Sasuke wasn't a vampire. It would have been a bit humorous to see his skin bust into golden flames, causing him to wither in pain on the ground. Even with all of the Itachi issues, he was still annoying.

I dumbly reached out and poked him in the cheek. "I understand your anger towards him but that doesn't mean you get to lash out at me for just knowing him. I didn't know his backstory after all and he's cool around me," I said in a matter-of-fact tone. The only side of Itachi I had seen so far was the good side. But he did kind of have a habit of not showing his emotions quite often.

He grunted but didn't say anything in response. An awkward silence passed through us before he quickly turned away from me. "I have to go. Don't think this means we're friends, Haruno. Just watch out for my brother," he called over his shoulder, not even bothering to look back.

My face twisted into disgust as he left me standing there by myself.

There was one thing that I realized that day though.

Uchiha Sasuke needed to be castrated.

**I'm so sorry this took so long to update! i've just been so lazy! Please don't kill me! I'm too young to die! There's so much I have to do first! **

**But how about you be nice to me since I updated and review? :D **

**Yes? Yes? I think that's a very good idea. **

**Until next time my monsters! **

**Ja ne!**


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